Vessel
Vessel is the third album released by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, which was released on January 8, 2013. It is the band's first studio album released via Fueled by Ramen, and their major-label debut album. Track listing All songs produced by Greg Wells. For a list of all releases and formats, see Vessel/Releases Background High-school colleagues Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih formed Twenty One Pilots in 2009. The group released their debut album Twenty One Pilots. Both Thomas and Salih parted ways with the band in 2011. Soon afterwards Josh Dun joined the band; Joseph had been friends with Dun for around a year. Joseph first saw Dun when he was playing a show with House of Heroes. Joseph said that he "loved" the performance. The band released Regional at Best later that year. In June, the duo played their first out-of-state show to a group of 12 people. The pair soon gained popularity through a series of videos made by friend Mark Eshelman. The band played their last show as an unsigned band at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio to a crowd of 1,800 in attendance. The band signed with Fueled by Ramen in 2012. In an exclusive commentary made for Spotify, Joseph revealed details behind many songs and the album. Whilst talking about the song Migraine, Joseph expands on what it's like to put out songs with meaning to him, and how they connect with other people. ...as a songwriter, I like to kind of just emit some sort of message, almost like a ripple in the water and when I feel that ripple bounce off of someone else who resonates with what it is I’m going through and it starts coming back at me it’s just a really cool feeling of you know, I’m not alone in what I’m going through. ''—Tyler Joseph on song writing Whilst discussing Semi-Automatic, Joseph noted that the album explores what it's like at night for him and goes on to explain this theme which runs through the album. ''It’s very introspective, and I know I talk about the night time a lot. I feel like I listen to a lot of pop music today that talks about the night in a completely different way than I talk about the night. There’s a lot of writers that talk about the night as in like it’s an awesome time, that everyone’s partying or whatever, and usually night time for me is like the worst—that’s when everything comes out for me. That’s when I realize that I don’t really understand why I’m here or what I’m doing and it’s when the doubts happen. So a lot of these songs are kind of showing you the things that I’m thinking at night. —''Tyler Joseph on the album's themes Discussing Truce, Joseph explains one of the messages he wants the album to give to its listeners. ''I just wanted to tell people; “hang in there, you know, there’s someone out there who does know what you’re going through.” I know that there’s a lot of bands that say they want to use music to help people and I know a lot of that might be full of crap. But if someone is encouraged, at all, by the music that I write, then my whole life will be justified, so I mean I would be crazy not to try. —''Tyler Joseph on the album's message Production Joseph composed the album "not knowing whether or not people were going to hear it". Recording for ''Vessel took place at Rocket Carousel Studio, located in Los Angeles, California with Greg Wells producing. Wells provided additional synths, keyboards and programming. Wells mixed the album, while Ian McGregor helped with recording. Mastering was performed by Howie Weinberg and Dan Gerbarg at Howie Weinberg Mastering, also in Los Angeles. Release In the summer of 2012, Twenty One Pilots released the Three Songs EP, which featured the tracks "Guns for Hands", "Migraine", and "Ode to Sleep". On September 11, "Holding on to You" was released as a single. On December 18, the album was made available for streaming via Entertainment Weekly. Vessel was released through Fueled by Ramen on January 8, 2013. The two elderly men pictured on the album cover are Joseph and Dun's grandfathers. The pair did it to see what the label's reaction was and when the label said yes the group said "Okay, maybe this is going to work!" In an interview, Joseph spoke on the meaning behind the album's name, saying that a vessel (our body) is an object carrying something far more important than the outer shell, and when we die, that is set free and lives on. To help support the album, the band toured internationally throughout the year. "House of Gold" was released as a radio single on August 6, 2013. On September 15, "Fake You Out" was released as a single. On October 4, the music video for "House of Gold" was released. The video was directed by Warren Kommers and filmed on Will Smith's ranch outside of Los Angeles, California. "Car Radio" was released as a radio single on March 18, 2014. The album is available on CD, digital download, a limited edition Clear Vinyl, and a limited edition white cassette. All physical copies are available through the Official Twenty One Pilots Store (store.twentyonepilots.com). Hot Topic released an exclusive red vinyl, which is no longer being sold by TOP or Hot Topic, and is worth around $80 - $200 on eBay, depending on physical condition. Artwork The album's cover features both Dun and Joseph's grandfathers on the left and right respectively. Photography for this album was done by Reel Bear Media. Art Direction and Design was done by Reel Bear Media and Virgilio Tzaj. Vessel.jpg|Album cover Vessel back.jpg|Standard back cover Vessel cd.jpg|CD Label Vesselp1.jpg Vesselp2.jpg Vesselp3.jpg Vesselp4.jpg Vesselp5.jpg Vesselp6.jpg Vesselp7.jpg Vesselp8.jpg Vesselp9.jpg Vesselp10.jpg Vessel back of booklet.jpg|Back page of booklet Vessel inner.jpg|Tray liner Reception In May 2015, it was announced the album had sold 265,000 copies in the United States. The album has consistently sold more than 1,000 copies a week since its release. By December, the album's U.S. sales stood at 375,000. In July 2016, the album received Platinum RIAA certification, indicating over 1,000,000 domestic sales. On July 31, 2019, Truce received Gold RIAA certification, making Vessel to be the second Twenty One Pilots album to have every track RIAA certified, and making history for the band as the first act to have two albums with every track RIAA certified. Credits Credits per booklet. Table Category:Albums Category:Vessel Category:Fueled by Ramen